Some Muslim
medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on
alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends
their religious beliefs.

Some
trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith,
which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual
promiscuity.

A small
number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the
opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than
carry out a basic examination of a female patient.

The
religious objections by students have been confirmed by the British Medical
Association (BMA) and General Medical Council (GMC), which both stressed that
they did not approve of such actions.

It will
intensify the debate sparked last week by the disclosure that Sainsbury’s is
permitting Muslim checkout operators to refuse to handle customers’ alcohol
purchases on religious grounds. It means other members of staff have to be
called over to scan in wine and beer for them at the till.

Critics,
including many Islamic scholars, see the concessions as a step too far, and say
Muslims are reneging on their professional responsibilities.

This
weekend, however, it emerged that Sainsbury’s is also allowing its Muslim
pharmacists to refuse to sell the morning-after pill to customers. At a
Sainsbury’s store in Nottingham, a pharmacist named Ahmed declined to provide
the pill to a female reporter posing as a customer. A colleague explained to her
that Ahmed did not sell the pill for “ethical reasons”. Boots also permits
pharmacists to refuse to sell the pill on ethical grounds.

The BMA
said it had received reports of Muslim students who did not want to learn
anything about alcohol or the effects of over consumption. “They are so opposed
to the consumption of it they don’t want to learn anything about it,” said a
spokesman.

The GMC
said it had received requests for guidance over whether students could “omit
parts of the medical curriculum and yet still be allowed to graduate”. Professor
Peter Rubin, chairman of the GMC’s education committee, said: “Examples have
included a refusal to see patients who are affected by diseases caused by
alcohol or sexual activity, or a refusal to examine patients of a particular
gender.”

He added
that “prejudicing treatment on the grounds of patients’ gender or their
responsibility for their condition would run counter to the most basic
principles of ethical medical practice”.

Shazia
Ovaisi, a GP in north London, said one of her male Muslim contemporaries at
medical school failed to complete his training because he refused to examine a
woman patient as part of his final exams.

“He was
academically gifted, one of the best students, but gradually he got in with
certain Islamic groups and started to become more radical,” said Ovaisi.

“You could
see there was a change in his personality as time went by. During the final
exams he was supposed to treat a female patient in hospital. He refused to do
it, even though it would have been a very basic examination, nothing intrusive.

“But he
refused and as a result he failed his exams. I was quite shocked and
disappointed about it because I don’t see there being anything in our religion
that prohibits us from examining male and female patients.”

Both the
Muslim Council of Britain and Muslim Doctors and Dentist Association said they
were aware of students opting out but did not support them.

Dr Abdul
Majid Katme, of the Islamic Medical Association, said: “To learn about alcohol,
to learn about sexually transmitted disease, to learn about abortion, it gives
us more evidence to campaign against it. There is a difference between learning
and practising.

“It is
obligatory for Muslim doctors and students to learn about everything. The
prophet said, ‘Learn about witchcraft, but don’t practise it’.”

I have a
policy of never lying to my lawyer, my physician or my priest. This story seems
to counteract that by its inverse. Actually, I once told my doctor about certain
“illicit” behavior I thought might have been causing my medical condition. He
questioned the wisdom of that, asking why I was revealing unlawful behavior to a
stranger. I gave it to him with both barrells, shameing him in his own office,
asking how the F*&$ he expected to give an intelligent diagnosis, if patients
were too scared to reveal all pertinent information about their condition. I
then demanded the protection of his oath of both helping the sick and keeping a
medical confidence. I think my mother the nurse would have been proud somehow…

Posted by Tim Mc Hugh at 6:38 PM on October 8

“Some
trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith,
which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual
promiscuity.”

Go to the
West End of London and you will see how closely Muslim men follow these 2
articles of their faith…

Posted by at 7:17 PM on October 8

It would be
so easy to refuse to qualify these radicals as Drs or refuse to hire them at
stores where they would be expected to provide whatever the franchise owner
decided to sell. Christians having similar compunctions about providing the
morning after pill or perform abortions have had to face hardship in following
their beliefs rather than be catered to by the establishment. How has the zeal
to create a more egalitarian society resulted in a belief that certain people
(whites) should now endure unfair treatment for the greater good?

And, as for
the Muslims who refuse to learn anything about alcohol related medical
conditions, they are ultimately refusing to treat their own brothers who are
indulging in all Western vices to an extreme not seen in the people whose
culture tolerates such behavior. This is also a reversal of decades of Muslim
immigrants in the US and the UK becoming more assimilated to Western norms by
having to adopt aspects of the new culture in order to work and live within it.
It’s as if a few radicals have been given the power to destroy all of Western
civilization against the will of the majority.

Posted by tj at 7:59 PM on October 8

There is,
of course, a perfect solution to this problem…one that should meet with
everyone’s approval. Those students, Muslim or otherwise, who cannot pass the
examination or refuse to learn their lessons, will not graduate and will not be
allowed to practice medicine in the country. Such students would be better
advised to attend a medical college in another country and plan to practice
medicine where such nonsense is normal. There, you see, not really a problem
after all!

Considering
that most of Britain’s doctors hail from sub-continental origins, a very
thoughtfully applied muslim boycott by medics of practices they consider
abhorrent would have a disasterous effect on Britain’s NHS.

Well, I am
sure they plan for their futures to be in A muslim dominated society with sharia
laws in place. Therefore, why would they need to treat STD’s and alcohol. Those
things will probably be banned. No ?

Posted by at 11:53 AM on October 9

When the
story about the med students broke I expected the usual suspects to start
whining about “…respecting other cultures and religions”. Instead, EVERYBODY has
come down on these students, like a ton of bricks. The general consensus is to
expel any med student, and strike off any doctor, who refuses to treat patients
who do not conform to the student’s/doctor’s mores.